Two minutes.
Explanation:
This Wednesday I didn't work and spent the day doing other responsible things.
My little brother had been spending a few days with us last week. It was a nice, calm evening. Kristin and Daniel were snuggling, I was busy washing dishes (as stated above) and the cats were chasing each other in circles.
After a little while though I started to notice this weird plastic like smell. At first I wrote it off as the stove, because Kristin had been cooking things earlier. But it kept getting stronger and eventual:
"Hey, Elysha...does that smell like burning plastic to you?"
Which caused a little bit of concern.
We start searching all over the apartment, unplugging things, checking the stove.
And then I wander into the laundry room.
Smoke. Everywhere. And this HORRIBLE melting plastic smell.
The concern I stated earlier? It turned into panic.
We couldn't see any fire, we unplugged both the washer and dryer, but the smoke was still coming.
At that point, we were past panic and into 'OH MY GOD, WHAT IF IT'S IN THE WALLS? THERE'S A FIRE IN THE WALLS!'.
We grabbed Daniel and the two cats and promptly left the apartment.
As we go down the stairs (I most definitely had my laptop and drawing tablet, priorities people.) Kristin was calling the fire department and Sam had just driven up. The guy has wonderful timing for adventure.
Within two minutes our street looked as it does in the picture above.
So the fire department is there, we're standing on the side walk, naturally everyone else on our street is curious about the fire trucks, and in the middle of this the cats are pretty sure that the carrier we've put them in is for the sole purpose of torturing them.
Of course, Daniel had brought Kristin's computer with him, so while Kristin and I are busy talking to the firemen and panicking he's sitting on the side walk playing games.
Oh, to be so unconcerned.
Kristin and I were, of course, panicking. Since there might be a fire in our walls and that would cause ALL kinds of problems. Kristin held up pretty well, but she kept telling me of how they would have to break into the walls if it were electrical. So I'm pretty sure her mind was supplying her with worst case scenarios
Mine wasn't doing much better. Common sense tried to comfort it, but...well...
Yep, Stomach decided it wanted to join in on the fun and as a result Brain thought something HORRIBLE was happening and freaked out even more.
Kristin and I stood there with Sam for a few more minutes until another fireman came out and explained what had happened.
There had not been a fire in the walls.
There hadn't even been a fire.
Do you know what happened?
APPARENTLY the Glade Plug-in models that Kristin owned had a recall about a year ago. Kristin and I were unaware of this, so that when the oil ran out on the freshener...
Yeaaaahhh, the Plug-in started to burn. Hence the melting plastic smell.
The entire fire department had turned up for a melting Glade Plug-in..
Luckily, the fireman who explained all of this to us did not seem to think we were stupid (That is he didn't ACT like it). He even gave us permission to burn the other Glade Plug-ins as punishment for their brother. Then my mother, of course, was her usual supportive self...
If the entire fire department showing up for no more than a melting air freshener wasn't bad enough. We soon found out that not only was the air freshener a destructive piece of plastic, it also had the ability to defy its function as an air FRESHENER and in fact made our entire apartment reek like melted plastic.
Completely unacceptable.
So we had to open all the windows and doors. This meant the cats had to stay in the carrier (Preeetty sure they still hate us over that) and Kristin, Daniel, and I decided to walk around the town while Sam stayed behind to make sure no squirrels or such got into the apartment.
(Sam asked me to draw him in his suit with a sword protecting the apartment.)
So, yes, overall the day was stressful. On top of ALL of this, Kristin had been taking an online, timed test for one of her classes and as a result of the 'fire' panic she did not completed it in time.
Kristin did not have a good day.
But hey, if nothing else, at least we know that in the event of an ACTUAL fire, the fire department is only two minutes away.
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